


I'm The One Who Wants To Be With You

by Mil_Tries



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-05-19 08:37:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19353382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mil_Tries/pseuds/Mil_Tries
Summary: “It’s just no offense but Park is usually interested in girls a bit less put together than you. But if you ask me, you’re much better for her. She needs someone who’s going to challenge her or whatever,” Kaleb says distractedly.For the second time that night Josie is utterly confused.“Who the fuck is Park?” Josie demands.OrA college AU in which the world is small and Penelope and Josie keep getting thrown together.





	1. Sophomore Year

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea what this is but I think it will be in 3 small little parts. Hope it's gay enough for you gays. Sorry for typos in advance!

Josie doesn’t fully know what she is doing here, not really. She never intended to be at a house party tonight, she had an eight page paper due the next day that she hadn’t even started on and a blog post due later that night.

And yet she was just now walking into Extra Cosmic Jungle Place at midnight, following her sister like a lost little puppy.

It wasn’t her fault that Lizzie was persuasive, and Josie was a desperate loser. One, “But what if you meet someone cute,” from Lizzie while she was watching a rom com and Josie eagerly put down her books and went and got ready. Because if college didn’t exist to lure a bunch of hopeful young adults into bad decisions then what did it even exist for?

So technically Josie knows exactly what she’s doing here. She’s getting drunk and hoping for something great.

Lizzie leads her to the kitchen where a group of people she vaguely recognizes are hanging out leaning on the counters. MG lights up when Lizzie walks in and greets the two excitedly, “Well if it isn’t my very favorite twins. Lizzie you’ve done it, the impossible. Josie has finally left her room.”

“Ha ha, super funny,” Josie says. She helps herself to some jungle juice, pouring a second cup and handing it to her sister. 

Lizzie smirks and takes a sip, “I’m a woman of many talents,” she says then settles her glance on MG’s friends. “MG, don’t be rude, introduce us.”

MG lights up at his name out of Lizzie’s lips, “These are my friends from speech comm. Landon and Rafael. Gents this is Lizzie and her twin…”

The curly haired boy, Landon cuts him off, slightly tipsy. “I know who you are,” he declares to Josie. “You’re Park’s new girl!”

Lizzie looks at Josie, confused. Josie’s face must be the exact same as the blonde’s, twin expressions of bewilderment. “I’m sorry, who?”

Landon looks intensely confused, like he’s trying to speak a language he’s never heard before, “Park. I’m sure it’s you.”

“You little hoe Josette, you’ve been seeing someone and you haven’t told me,” Lizzie accuses, overwhelmingly impressed. MG grins, proud of Josie.

The tall girl just snorts. “I don’t know any Park’s and I am definitely not anyone’s girl.”

“I could have sworn, but my mistake then,” Landon says, still confused.

Rafael slings an arm around Landon’s shoulders, slapping him on the chest. “My boy Landon seems to have had more to drink than he let on. Anyway, does anyone want to play pong?” He asks. Josie agrees while Landon wanders off to catch up with his upperclassman brother. Lizzie stays behind to flirt some more with MG. She always did love boys who were obtainable, and MG is overly so.

Josie follows Raf to a plastic table, already covered with cups. They find opponents in Kaleb and Jed, two boys who Raf knows from football. They reach out to shake Josie’s hand politely.

“Hey I’m Josie. So nice to meet the people whose asses I’m about to use to clean the floor.” Raf laughs loudly and Josie grins, cheekily.

Jed shoots a playful glare her way while Kaleb lets out a whistle. “I can see how you and Park would get along,” Kaleb says, already distracted by arranging the cups on their side of the table. He dunks the ping pong ball in a cup of water a few times, as if the amount moisture on the ball has anything to do with anything.

“Excuse me?” Josie asks, stunned.

“It’s just no offense but Park is usually interested in girls a bit less put together than you. But if you ask me, you’re much better for her. She needs someone who’s going to challenge her or whatever,” Kaleb says distractedly.

For the second time that night Josie is utterly confused. 

“Who the fuck is Park?” Josie demands. Kaleb reacts, bewildered.

“Your girlfriend I thought. Are you not Peevs’ new girl? My b, I thought that was why you were here.” Kaleb explains, quickly.

“I don’t know anyone named Peevs or Park but would you believe that you’re the second person to ask me that tonight?” Josie asks a bit confused, a bit intrigued.

She really feels at this point as if maybe she should meet this mysterious Park. If an entire friend group thought they would make a good match, well who was Josie to argue?

Jed snorts. “I believe it. You’re exactly who I picture Peevs’ type to be. She tries to act all badass but I’m sure she would take one look at you and turn into a puddle of mush.” He shoots and sinks the cup. Josie distractedly drinks. Jed makes a whipping noise, “She’s a sucker for pretty girls and puppy dog eyes.”

“Please don’t take my idiot friend for a creep. He’s not trying to hit on you, he has a boyfriend, he’s just a dumbass like that,” Rafael apologizes. Josie smiles, endeared by how dumb and light hearted this group of boys is.

She wonders how Park fits into all of this. If she’s the same way, If she’s more quiet or less quiet than the bumbling crew of boys before her. She wonders if she would think she’s cute.

Josie distractedly takes a shot and misses. Raf sinks his and the boys drink.

“I’m sorry, I’m just telling the truth,” Jed sheepishly explains. Josie shoots him a smile to show that no harm was done, even if she is momentarily having a crisis over the mysterious girl aforementioned. 

A boy comes up behind Jed, wrapping his arm’s around the tall football player’s waste as he talks. “Speak of the devil.”

Josie waves awkwardly. Rafael clarifies, “Ryan, Landon’s brother, Jed’s boyfriend.”

“You must be Parks’s new girl friend,” The curly haired boy smiles. Josie drops her drink and the three boys laugh.

“You know, I’m beginning to think you and Peevs just have to meet,” says Kaleb, endlessly amused.

Josie rolls her eyes, a little drunk and a little sick of the teasing. “At this point I feel like we’ve had a whole epic romance already. What’s the point in ruining it with an awkward first meeting?”

Kaleb grins, “She’ll be here in an hour and then you’ll totally get it.”

Raf laughs, delighted at the opportunity to join in the matchmaking fun. “I bet she’s exactly your type Jo.” 

Josie rolls her eyes, “You guys hardly know me and you’re all drunk.”

“Call it a wing man’s intuition,” Kaleb quips. He sinks the last cup. Josie groans and her and Rafael drink, sore losers.

“I think I’ll pass on this one. Now please excuse me as I pursue more alcohol and the preservation of whatever sliver of pride I still have remaining,” Josie bids them farewell, needing a moment to recompose herself.

The boys all laugh as she leaves them behind, flustered. She hears Ryan stage whisper behind her, “I like her. A lot. Almost as much as Ms. Park will,” and Josie smiles to herself.

Josie finds her way back to the kitchen where she finds her sister making out with MG. She snags another cup of jungle juice, then makes her way to another part of the party. 

She stumbles upon Nia from her film class who offers her a joint. She sits with that group for a while, smoking and talking and laughing. One of Nia’s friends lean over to ask if she’s P’s infamous new girlfriend. At this point Josie just feels sorry for whoever the mystery girl’s actual girlfriend is.

She shakes her head and sighs, “Nope. Not me,” then takes her last hit, leaving the room.

In line for the bathroom someone tells her she’s lucky for snagging a Park. Josie is too exhausted to even correct them. It seems everyone here thinks she’s someone else and it’s getting a bit ridiculous. 

She decides it is time to turn the towel in. Finding someone to take home seems impossible to do at a party where everyone thinks she’s spoken for, and Josie doesn’t want to stay around for the part of the party where everyone will ask her why she isn’t spending time with the girlfriend she evidently has who definitely belongs to someone else. It reads as a very awkward situation to get herself into.

She finds her sister, thankfully pulled away from MG a little, and checks to make sure she’s good to get home. On her way out she runs into Rafael, Kaleb, and Jed dancing like idiots to Sunday Candy on the make shift dance floor.

Josie gets swept into it for a second, dancing along with them, reveling in the feeling of being a drunk dumb ass with her drunk dumb ass new friends.

“I’m heading out,” She yells over the music.

“Noooo!” The boys all complain at the same time, trying to get her to stay.

“You have to stay for Penelope, she’s almost here!” Jed yells.

“I have a paper, but maybe next time,” She shoots them a sad smile, trying to let them down easy. She knows how sad even the slightest inconvenience can seem to a drunk person.

It’s Kaleb who accepts defeat first. “I’m holding you to that,” He lightly threatens. He gives her a warm hug, followed by Raf, Jed, and Ryan. They all look fondly at Josie, as only drunk people do when they adopt a new friend at a house party. 

“Let’s actually hang out,” Kaleb insists. Josie nods and holds up her pinky, locking it with the new, sweet boy’s. She waves to the other three and pushes her way out of the crowd, just as Ms. Jackson by Outkast starts playing.

On the porch, Josie orders a lyft to a chorus of a bunch of drunk college students screaming out the high pitched “OOOs.” As she waits for her driver she looks up to find a gaggle of girls approaching up the side walk. They pass by her, into the party.

Josie’s eyes lock onto a pair of green ones so pretty her drunk brain swims. The girl they belong to winks slyly as she passes into the party.

Josie almost cancels her lyft, turns around and follows the girl into the party. She truly almost does. If she was slightly more drunk she would have, but at this point it would cost her a fee, and college students just don’t do fees. So she climbs into the back of Rob’s red Nissan and tries to picture exactly what Park whatever-her-name-is could look like.

The next morning she wakes up with a killer hangover, a half written paper, and a very murky memory of maybe at one point playing some beer pong with some new friends.

 

Week two of summer break is going just swimmingly for Penelope. She has extended stay, she can smoke in her dorm room whenever she wants, no classes, no job yet, no worries. She is living the ultimate life.

When Hope invites her to go to her family’s lake house for the day she thinks her life could not get any better.

Being randomly placed with Hope had been a blessing in disguise. Penelope never thought she would be friends with a loner ex-emo kid and yet they lived together incredibly well. Penelope valued someone who could be just as bitchy as her and who could laugh at herself as well.

It was fun being a secret dork with Hope Mikaelson.

The only catch was meeting Hope’s new girl… toy. Girlfriend? Penelope wasn’t really sure. Hope was very noncommittal about the whole thing. From what she could understand the whole thing was very casual. Not that Hope talked about it very much, she wasn’t big on feelings.

The whole thing was shaping up to be pretty awkward.

But she was looking forward to working on her tan and taking a swim and possibly paddle boating. Who knows?

At 11:00 am sharp Penelope is ready to go and her and Hope head out. When they get to Hope’s black jeep, a pretty girl with a pouty face is leaning against it. 

Penelope’s sure she’s seen her before, in the campus store perhaps. Their school was small enough where everyone looked vaguely familiar but something tugged inside Penelope looking at this girl. She just couldn’t pinpoint what.

Hope leans in to give Josie a peck on the lips, then she turns to her roommate with a small smile, “Penelope this is Josie, Josie, my roommate Penelope.” Josie offers an awkward hand. Penelope finds it all strangely formal and awkward, so she schools her face into a mocking serious one and stiffly shakes the taller girls hand.

“A pleasure, Josette, it’s not often you get to meet the woman who has charmed the elusive Hope Mikaelson.”

Hope rolls her eyes as Josie grins. “Don’t be weird, Park,” she complains, “just get in the car.”

The ride down is pretty uneventful. Hope blasts Queen and the three of them scream sing on the hour long drive it takes to get to the lake. The doors are off the jeep and the air is warm. Penelope feels content in a way she hasn’t since school started. Without the weight of any type of pressure she feels sort of more free or something. Being in that car feels like they’ve been there a thousand times.

When they pull up to the lake, Hope goes inside to change. Penelope and Josie, who wear their suits under their clothes, stand awkwardly, waiting for their only link to come back.

Penelope was never good at awkward silences.

“So how are you liking Salvatore?”

Josie nods, immediately ready to give the most genuine answer, “I like it. My dad’s a professor here so I didn’t really have an option but I don’t know. I like it well enough.”

Penelope nods, “what’s your major?”

“Bio. You?”

“Journalism.”

“So you’re nosey then?” And Penelope is taking aback by the girl’s teasing. She seemed almost too… wholesome for it.

“Oh, ridiculously so. But I also think copy editing wasn’t cut throat enough for my parents. So that’s why,” Penelope explains.

Josie smiles, “Copy editing? Penelope the copy editor?”

“Yeah. What’s wrong with that?” Penelope challenges.

“Nothing. It just sounds like something a grandmother would do.” Josie laughs. For some reason Penelope likes it when Josie teases. There’s no real bite behind it.

“Yeah well Josie the Scientist sounds like a feminist children’s book.” Josie snorts and the sound warms Penelope’s heart.

“What ever you say…” Josie mimes pushing glasses up her face and shaking a cane, “Penelope the copy editor.”

“That’s the old Penelope. It’s more…” Penelope mimes turning on a tascam, “This is Penelope and this has been the scoop,” she says in a newscaster voice. Josie laughs a full laugh and Penelope feels her heart stutter for a quick, forgettable second. She continues on. “So tell me, Josie, what’s your deepest, darkest secret?”

“Off the record?” Josie asks. Penelope nods, delighting in the way the taller girl plays along.

“I killed the president of the United States of America.”

Penelope’s jaw drops. “Now come on. You have to let me write that scoop!”

“Sorry, It was off the record.” Josie smiles sweetly.

“But what if he deserved it?” Penelope asks.

“Aren’t you supposed to be free of bias?” Josie wonders, fixing Penelope with an accusing stare. 

Penelope just shrugs. “I’m still learning,” she justifies.

The raven haired girl could do this all day. Her banter with Josie easier than breathing. Penelope looks up and sees Hope walking back towards them.

With a jolt she realizes she’s disappointed at the interruption. With a second jolt she realizes Hope isn’t alone, and with a third, she notices who accompanies her.

“Landon?”

Josie turns around, looking visually as surprised as Penelope feels.

“Hey! Look who I found,” Hope explains cheerfully, “you guys know Landon right? His mom has a house a few plots over.”

And Penelope almost rolls her eyes. Because she knew this. Knew that Hope and Landon had grown up together. And knew that the two have been crushing on each other ever since.

Josie, bless her heart, is not privy to all this information. Penelope watches as brown eyes practically light up.

“You’re Rafael’s friend, right?” Josie asks, excited to be making this connection. “I think we met at a party one time.”

Landon scrunches his face up in confusion. Then his eyes light up. “Yes! You’re the girl with the scary twin,” Landon remembers.

Penelope holds her breath but Josie just laughs, “Sure did,” she confirms. Bold move on Landon’s part to lead with that, Penelope thinks to herself.

“I hardly remember that night but I do remember Kaleb saying over and over again that he liked you and that he knew other people who certainly would too.”

Josie’s smile lights up her face and Penelope is momentarily distracted by how beautiful she is. She scolds herself for thinking that about her roommates kind of girlfriend.

“I hardly remember that night either but I remember finding all of you guys lovely,” Josie says sincerely. Landon’s face lights up.

“It is so great that you all know each other. Especially because Landon just offered to give us a ride on his boat,” Hope says. And Penelope almost rolls her eyes. Mikaelson was a major dumbass if she thought a day on a boat with her life long crush and current fling was a good idea. Apparently Penelope was the only one with any brains of the four though. The other three were on board with the idea immediately.

Hope stares at her, waiting for a confirmation. Penelope immediately glances to Josie’s eager face. She’s somehow powerless against it.

And that was a bit weird to be feeling with a girl she just met huh? Even if Josie was pretty in a wholesome way and surprisingly funny and cute when she laughed, was Penelope even allowed to think any of that? Was it against some sort of room mate code to want to protect Josie from going into a situation that may hurt her? To want to go on the boat just to spend more time with Josie in the first place?

“Peevs?” Hope asks, pulling Penelope out of her thoughts.

And against her better judgement Penelope nods. “Yeah, sure. Let’s get on a fucking boat,” she says.

The excitement on Josie’s face… on all of their faces Penelope corrects internally, makes her agreement completely worth it.

 

 

Josie isn’t an idiot. She’s actually fairly bright, all things considered. She graduated high school eight of her class and was in the National Honor Society. Therefore, she can tell that Hope has feelings for Landon. 

She should probably be offended at the way the red head sits up at the steering wheel with the curly haired boy, laughing at every awkward joke he makes.

Another girl in Josie’s position would probably feel heartbroken, devastated that their sort of something was chatting up someone else. But surprisingly Josie feels none of that.

She just feels content. Sitting at the back of the boat joking around with her sort of something’s roommate makes her feel content.

“I’m telling you, Holes is the most quotable movie of all time,” Penelope states, dead serious and Josie laughs. “I am not kidding.”

And Josie doesn’t know much about Penelope, she just met her today, but she knows that that statement from her mouth was hilarious. “I know you’re not kidding, that’s why it’s funny.”

“Why?” Penelope asks, a twinkle in her eye.

“You don’t look like that type of girl.”

“The type of girl who likes Holes?” Josie nods. “Well then what type of girl do I look like?” Penelope asks. Josie swallows down the feeling that rises in her throat at the glint in Penelope’s stare.

“You look like the kind of girl whose favorite movie is The Departed. Maybe Dead Poet’s Society,” Josie explains. Penelope snorts at that.

“Oh Captain, My Captain, has nothing on Holes.”

Josie rolls her eyes, grin never leaving her face. “Give me one quote from Holes that’s memorable.”

Penelope looks downright offended. She puts on a southern accent, and as serious as can be says, “I’m tired of this Grandpa, Well that’s just too damn bad!” And it’s all rather goofy. And Josie finds that magical.

She can’t help the way her smile grows as Penelope goes on to explain how the movie is great but it still doesn’t even do the book justice. The taller girl finds her self wrapped up in a glimmer in green eyes. In the way Penelope throws her heart into discussing a children’s book and movie.

“Holes is pretty good,” She admits after a twenty minute argument. Penelope’s face scrunches up in confusion.

“Pretty good? Jo, pretty good? It is high key iconic!” 

And the loud laughs from the front of the boat don’t succeed in making her heart sink the way that they would otherwise. 

Something about the girl sitting next to her and the way the can chat like they’ve known each other for lifetimes makes Josie not really think about what her date is doing at the front of the boat. 

She doesn’t really notice anything beyond green eyes and progressively worse arguments at all.


	2. Junior Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penelope doesn’t know why but her thoughts are dead calm. She knows two things. The first: She wants to kiss Josie Saltzman. The second: she doesn’t care about the ramifications of kissing Josie Saltzman.
> 
> Or
> 
> Disaster college AU part two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's play a game called guess where Mil went to college, shall we? Anyways, here's more of these dumb idiots. Sorry for any typos.

Buying a fake ID is the best thing that Penelope ever did. She had had it since freshman year and had used it liberally and now she was reaping the benefits, as a regular at a bar by the ripe young age of 20.

Penelope loved the Tam. It was their college’s bar. Not officially, but unspokenly. Penelope loved the fact that the older woman who bartended would see her, recognize her face, and pour her a stronger drink than she would for most. She loved the fact that she never knew who she would run into, whether it be Jack from Psychology or just a random face she recognized from the dining hall.

She loved being a regular.

She loved that certain people were also regulars. Like her friends, and her roommate, and the twins who had somehow wormed their way into that circle.

Both twins. She was not more excited about one twin being a part of the group than another twin. Not at all.

She was actually a bit jealous of Josie and Lizzie. They lived a few blocks away, whereas Penelope had to take a train back to her own apartment. But she did it still. Because the bar was close to both twins. Both of them.

If Penelope were being honest she loved the ritual of it all. On Friday, almost no one had class. So every Thursday, like clockwork, they hit up the Tam.

It’s on this specific Thursday night that Penelope is sitting at the bar, sucking down a vodka soda like it’s no ones business and convincing herself that she isn’t waiting for anyone specific to show up.

MG is around somewhere. Landon and Hope are fiddling with the jukebox in the corner. And Kaleb and Jed have a table on lockdown. And Penelope feels content, waiting for the bartender to bring back her change and surrounded by a bunch of excited kids she sort of knows.

She feels a hand on her back and turns around, instantly meeting dark brown eyes that reflect the light like a starry sky. 

Who even has thoughts that corny? It’s a lot, Penelope knows it.

“Hey,” Josie says softly, and if Penelope wasn’t listening so hard she would have missed it over the hum of the bar.

“Hey, what are you drinking?” Penelope asks, even though she knows what Josie will say.

“Whisky sour,” Josie confirms. A ritual. And even though it’s all very familiar, Penelope’s heart races like it’s her very first rodeo.

She nods, pretending the information is new. “Want to do a shot?”

And Josie nods, so when the bartender returns, Josie puts in her order and asks for two shots of fireball.

Penelope doesn’t love fireball, can’t fully get behind it since the time she swear she saw God freshman year after drinking a whole bottle of fireball and an entire bottle of Barefoot pink moscato, but she drinks it because it’s what Josie likes.

The bartender returns with the drinks and Penelope and Josie take the shot. They should go back to their friends, join them at the table, but instead they stay seated at the bar.

“I saw the elevator douchebag today,” Josie offers up and Penelope snorts.

“Oh yeah? Was he wearing his Gucci belt and his playboy tee?”

“Obviously. He doesn’t leave the house without them,” Josie deadpans. And Penelope likes her.

This. Penelope likes this. 

Because she can’t like Josie. Josie is her friend. They are in a friend group together and Penelope wouldn’t jeopardize that by complicating things.

So she just notices how Josie is stunningly beautiful and the perfect combination of adorable and smart and funny and was Penelope’s very favorite person to talk to in her head to herself. 

And she saw other people, as did Josie. And that specific fact made her heart feel no differently in the slightest bit at all.

Nope.

Speaking of other people, Dana chooses that very moment to show up. Penelope honestly wishes she wouldn’t. Because Dana has a crush on her and Penelope knows it and Dana could not take a hint.

It wasn’t that the blonde girl wasn’t pretty, she was. Penelope was slightly flattered that she so obviously was into her. It was just that Dana was a bitch. Specifically to all of the people Penelope cared about. And no girl was hot enough to make her forget about that.

Some idiot voice in her head whispers ‘You already belong to someone else anyway.’ But Penelope has already practically made a living out of ignoring that voice.

“Hey Penny,” Dana says, and Penelope hates it. Hates being called Penny and hates the fact that Dana is very clearly inebriated. It will make her miss the signs that Penelope was not interested even more aggressively.

“Dana,” Penelope greets cautiously. Beside her she senses Josie tensing up. She wonders if it’s just because of the animosity between her and Dana or if there’s something else that bothers Josie about Dana’s flirting.

She pretends that the latter is true. Then she yells at herself in her head for even thinking that.

“What do you say we get out of here?” Dana asks, right to the point. Penelope is almost grateful. A move on Dana’s part right from the get go is a no on Penelope’s part right from the get go and that’s just easier for everyone involved.

She opens her mouth to say just that when Josie beats her to speaking.

“Actually, Pen and I were just going to dance. This is our song,” she says snidely. Penelope tries to ignore how a nickname coming from Josie’s lips feels so much more different from one coming from Dana’s. Or anyone’s for that matter.

Dana’s lips practically curl.

“Joni, hi, didn’t see you there,” Dana says, fake and snake-like. Penelope smiles to herself at the intense degree of eye roll Josie performs at the fake mispronunciation of her name.

She’s seen how bad a Saltzman-Dana throw down can get and so Penelope decides now is the time to step in between them. “Josie,” she emphasizes the name, “is right, we were actually just going to hit the dance floor, this is our song.” Penelope doesn’t even recognize this song but anything to get Josie away from Dana. Anything to get Dana away from herself.

Without another word, Josie takes her hand and stands from the bar. They’re almost to the small dance area when Dana catches her other hand.

“I’m offering you so much more than a dance, Penelope,” She says, trying to be seductive. Her lack of kindness and well… Josie Saltzman features falls flat.

“And I’m politely declining your offer.” Penelope lets Josie pull her the rest of the way to the dance floor and tries not to notice how large the taller girl’s smile has gotten. She assumes it has nothing to do with her.

Hoping it has everything to do with her is dangerous.

And because she can still feel Dana’s glare glued to her back she offers Josie a hand and pulls her close to dance.

“I’m the one who wants to be with you.”

 

 

Josie Saltzman hates Dana with a burning passion. Not only did she have it out for Lizzie and Josie by extension, and most of their friends by an even longer extension, but she had her eyes set on Penelope and that did not sit well with Josie.

Not because Josie liked Penelope, they were just friends. Josie just didn’t want someone who was such a petty jerk to think that they could get away with that sort of behavior. If Dana slept with Penelope that would break Josie’s heart exclusively because it would excuse all of Dana’s cowish behavior.

Except that was a giant lie. Josie did like Penelope. Desperately. To the point where it was embarrassing for a nineteen year old to be having a crush this intense. Josie hardly ever stopped thinking about Penelope and how easy it was to be around her, how pretty her smile was, how dorky her laugh was, how obtuse her preference in movies was.

But they were just friends. And Josie was completely okay with that.

Except apparently not because she acted on her jealousy in an incredibly impulsive way and now her and Penelope are on the dance floor with Dana still staring at them. So she maybe has some personal issues to work out.

But they have to dance, don’t they?

When Penelope pulls her closer, Josie holds her breath for the briefest moment. The song is one that she doesn’t recognize but she thinks it’s suspiciously too fitting.

“I'm the one who wants to be with you. Deep inside I hope you feel it too. Waited on a line of greens and blues just to be the next to be with you.” And if those lyrics didn’t slap her straight in the face, well than Josie didn’t know what else would.

The song perfectly captured how she felt about Penelope. Josie felt like often times she was an inch away from waving her hand in front of the shorter girls face and saying, ‘Hello, earth to Penelope, I’m right here, let’s like bang or something.’

Because she knew, the twin just inexplicably knew, that her and Penelope would be magic together. She just had a thing for snarky, bitchy, softies apparently.

But the fact that Penelope could turn her down, could laugh in her face if Josie put herself out there? Terrifying. 

The tall girl had never met someone who she immediately and easily clicked with before she met the raven-haired girl. Confessing to a big, fat, embarrassing crush could make all of that go away. Josie would hate to ruin their friendship with any sort of awkward tension.

She shifts closer to Penelope as they sway and she lets herself be content with this moment, being close to Penelope and dancing with her and having a routine at this shitty college bar with her. Just as friends.

Over Penelope’s shoulder she notices that Lizzie and Hope are starring at her and whispering. Hope has a shit eating grin on her face that Josie rolls her eyes at.

After the whole boat day, Josie had told Hope it was better if they just stayed friends. Hope was hot but there wasn’t anything too serious between them. Plus the shorter girl had feelings for Landon and Josie was too attracted to her roommate to make things run smoothly in the end.

One of the things Josie is proudest of in life is the fact that she and the red head were able to remain friends. And that Josie was able to help finesse Hope and Landon’s relationship a bit. She was a matchmaking icon when it came to anyone other than herself.

For the past year Hope and Lizzie have been desperately trying to get Josie to sleep with Penelope. It was a bit much if you asked her and it did not make her situation any less awkward. She hates them for it but also kind of finds it amusing. 

And somewhat helpful. She always felt that she put too much weight on her feelings so being able to joke around about her situation with her sister and friend was a bit of a relief, despite the embarrassment.

Not being in the mood for teasing at this particular moment, Josie adverts her eyes from the pair and instead lands on Dana. Which is, understandably, much worse. 

Dana has a death glare so powerful trained on her that Josie wouldn’t be surprised if any birds flying over the Tam fell from the sky and landed on the sidewalk outside, DOA.

And Josie was just ruminating on not making things between her and Penelope awkward, was just contemplating how not to add fuel to the fire that is her unfortunate crush on the green-eyed girl.

But Josie has always loved fire.

And even though it’s possessive, Josie almost can’t control herself. She doesn’t know logically why she does it. As Dana watches, seething, from the bar, Josie snuggles in closer to Penelope, turning her face slighting into the other girls neck.

Penelope seems to stiffen the slightest bit or maybe Josie is just imaging things. By now the chorus has come back around, and it is catchy, so unthinkingly Josie begins singing along. Penelope shuffles slightly closer and Josie’s heart does a small skip.

The way Dana’s glare deepens only spurs the brunette more. She catches Dana’s eye and worries that she may be somehow set on fire. Something dark and quiet inside Josie delights in Dana’s anger.

God knows why, maybe it’s the alcohol, maybe it’s being this close to Penelope, but Josie thinks that shooting a smug smile Dana’s way is a good idea. So she does. And she flips Dana off over Penelope’s shoulder. For good measure or something, who really knows?

Dana takes her anger out on her beer glass, which falls to the floor and shatters. It causes quite a commotion near the bar which causes Dana to finally look away.

Josie drags her attention away as well, noticing briefly that her sister and Hope had seen the whole thing and are laughing uncontrollably from their high top.

Josie looks away quickly, embarrassed that she acted like a child. By now the song has come to a close so the tall girl decides now is the time to rip herself back to reality.

She pulls away from Penelope who looks up at her. Josie tries not to hope, but it seems like Penelope is disappointed that their dance is over. The twin smiles sheepishly, not wanting to be done with it either but needing a moment to clear her head. “Sorry Pen, got to pee,” she says awkwardly.

“You and your tiny bladder,” Penelope says, adding in a wink in classic Penelope fashion. “Hurry back, Jojo, I think another dance will really set Dana straight.”

All Josie can do is beam at the request and blush at the nickname. She nods and hurries to the back of the bar to get that moment to herself.

In the world’s tiniest bathroom, Josie stares at herself in the mirror. She wonders who she has become, what has gotten into her to turn her into such a possessive and aggressive person. Most people expected her twin to act like this, but not her.

Maybe the Saltzmans were petty by nature.

Except Josie knows that isn’t true. She only seems to act this way when Penelope is involved. Penelope has gotten into her. Ew, that sounded weird. Her heart. Penelope had gotten into her heart.

Josie almost slaps herself for her entire line of thinking that night. Instead she dips her hands under the faucet and dabs some cold water on her neck. She takes a deep breath and gives herself a small pep talk, hyping herself up to go back out there and be more platonic and less possessive over someone who is exclusively her friend.

The fates have other plans for her.

When Josie steps out of the bathroom, she is greeted by none other than the devil herself, Dana.

“Joni, hi, took a long time in there huh?” Dana questions in her classic mean girl tone.

Josie literally lets out a heavy sigh, not wanting to deal with this. Dana presses on, unconcerned, “It was cute how you were dancing with Penny out there, you guys looked so adorable. But just so you know, you should stop wasting your time. I’ve heard she’s into people a little less… well… wholesome than you.”

And Josie doesn’t want to admit that the insult hits its mark. Josie was constantly self conscious about the fact that everyone thought she was a straight edge virgin. Sure she was nice, sue her. She shouldn’t be made to feel like she was inadequate or lame just because she didn’t outwardly swear like a sailor constantly.

Josie tries not to get defensive, clenching her jaw. She knows that Dana is nothing more than an insecure bully and the best way to beat her is to just rise above the bitchy banter.

“Weird. Penelope didn’t seem to think I was too wholesome when she asked me to come home with her tonight.”

Well there goes rising above. And while she’s at it, why not just destroy the possessiveness scale? Josie does not know what the fuck she’s doing but the look on Dana’s face makes the lie just about worth it.

Dana sputters, momentarily thrown off her game, “you’re lying,” she says. And Josie almost feels sorry for her. Until she remembers how much of a bitch Dana is and how little interest Penelope has ever shown in her.

“I’m not. But I guess you’ll see when Pen and I leave together, huh?” Josie goes to push past the blonde girl, then pauses, “oh, and my name is Josie. It’s cool if you don’t remember it though, Penelope remembers it just fine.” Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Josie spins back around and marches back into the bar space, anxiety throwing through her veins.

The look on her face must be a masterpiece of regret and pride and embarrassment and euphoria because both MG and Jed hand her drinks without saying anything as she passes them by the dart board. She drains one and then the other with a quick nod of thanks handing the empty glasses back to the boys.

Josie doesn’t know if she just got possessed. She truly can’t tell what came over her. She should probably just leave now and turn in for an early night. There must be a full moon or something because she feels like she just did something she would never do.

But before she can just leave the bar, she feels Dana’s eyes trained to her back. And that makes her situation seem like it has only one solution. Her eyes scan the crowd and they lock on green. So she does what she always does and makes her way towards Penelope.

“You’re back,” Penelope says and Josie delights in the happiness that comes through Penelope’s tone.

“Yeah, hey listen, feel free to say no but do you want to walk with me to Maria’s?” Josie asks, a bit nervous but trying to be casual so Penelope doesn’t worry, “I am starving.”

The green eyed girl immediately drains her half filled drink, wincing at the alcohol that must have been sat on the bottom of the glass. “Absolutely Jojo, anything for you,” she declares, “and anything for a burrito.” Josie can’t stop her smile from forming.

Outside, the air is welcomingly cooler. Josie lets Penelope lead the way while she mulls over her run in with Dana. She feels like she can think clearer outside of the noise of the bar.

“I can practically hear your brain spiraling,” Penelope states after a while.

Josie laughs, self-depracatingly. “Sorry, I just had a weird moment in the bar,” she explains.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“It was nothing.” She says, then immediately feels guilty. And although she may regret it, Josie has a serious ‘fuck it’ moment. She’s a bit drunk so why not be honest, right? “Actually I owe you an apology.” Penelope raises a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “In the bar, I told Dana that you and I were leaving together. Like in a romantic way. I know it was a lie but she just… she is such a terrible person and she always hits on you and it just. I’m sorry, okay? I know it wasn’t my place and if you want to sleep with Dana I get that, you are free to do that.” 

Josie says it all so quickly she’s not sure Penelope understands. When she looks up, the black-haired girl has a slight crinkle in her brow. This is probably a very bad time for Josie to find it adorable.

“You told Dana we were going to sleep together?”

“Yes.”

“Because the thought of her being with me upset you?” And it’s true but Josie is a little taken aback by how Penelope saw through to that so quickly.

“Well… yeah. I’m sorry I shouldn’t have done it.” And Josie is sorry, truly. She’s also a little drunk. And desperately hoping she didn’t just mess up a friendship she really cares about.

Penelope shakes her head, as if to dismiss Josie’s apology. “Well are you going to invite me up then?” She asks instead.

Josie is confused. She looks around for context clues to make sense of that question and notices that they are not at Maria’s at all. They are in fact in front of her own apartment. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Are you going to invite me up to your apartment?” Penelope asks and green eyes meet her own. The shorter girl looks so nervous that Josie will say no, it makes her head spin.

She expected Penelope to be weirded out or mad but instead she’s being vulnerable and seemingly encouraging? And Josie does want Penelope to come up so she nods.

Relieved, Penelope smiles slightly, gesturing grandly with her hand for Josie to walk up. And she does, but she truly has no idea how the hell this is how her night went.

 

 

Penelope has a lot that she’s trying to process and she’s doing it all while sitting on Josie’s bed while the taller girl grabs them some wine.

It had been an awkward sort of dance getting into Josie’s room and while she was almost never nervous around pretty girls, Penelope sure was nervous now.

Because Josie was the pretty girl. And Penelope had real feelings for her and she didn’t want to mess things up.

And Josie had not explicitly said she liked Penelope, not really. She had said that she didn’t like that Dana liked her and that was pretty similar. But Penelope didn’t deal in pretty similars, she dealt in certainties.

So Penelope finds herself on a Thursday night in her crushes room, sitting on her bed feeling like a kid, her heart racing. She supposes she is a kid after all. 

To steady her racing mind, Penelope picks up a raggedy stuffed dog on Josie’s bed. She knows that this dog must have spent a lot of time with Josie and she feels endlessly endeared by the fact that Josie still sleeps with him in her bed.

“Put down Puddles and no one gets hurt,” Josie says softly from the doorway. Penelope’s head snaps up a bit startled. She lets a somewhat embarrassed smile cover her lips.

“Puddles, huh?”

“Don’t you dare talk shit about Puddles, Pen, I swear you can walk right the hell home if you do. I don’t care if the T is closed.” And just like that Penelope remembers that this is just Josie. And talking with Josie has always been easier than breathing.

“I just don’t get why his name is Puddles, no need to be defensive,” she quips with a smile.

Josie shakes her head, coy, “My neighbors had a dog named Puddles when I got him when I was three. I thought that all dogs were just called Puddles,” she explains happily, placing the glasses of wine down on the bedside table and sitting next to Penelope, both their backs against the wall. 

Oddly enough, Penelope’s self-proclaimed punk rock heart sings at that tidbit. “Adorable,” Penelope says, quietly. She’s not sure if it even is meant for Josie but the green-eyed girl can tell by the way the tips of her ears tinge pink that she heard it. It all makes Penelope feel a little bit bolder. “Puddles, that is,” she clarifies.

Josie looks up, a cocky glint in her eye, “Yeah, sure. Puddles.”

Penelope looks down at Puddles and places a quick kiss on his head before placing him down.

“What a lucky dog,” Josie mumbles, and her eyes widen. Penelope suspects that she didn’t mean to say it out loud, and laughs teasingly at Josie.

“That was pretty smooth Saltzman,” Penelope taunts and Josie rolls her eyes, embarrassed.

“Whatever.”

“No really, it was. But if you wanted a kiss, all you had to do was ask. I doubt Puddles will be jealous,” Penelope explains. Josie’s cheeks are slightly red. Her mind seems to be going a mile a minute. 

Penelope doesn’t know why but her thoughts are dead calm. She knows two things. The first: She wants to kiss Josie Saltzman. The second: she doesn’t care about the ramifications of kissing Josie Saltzman.

Josie on the other hand seems to be overthinking. Penelope tries to help her out, “No pressure, but Puddles and I are super low-key. Like so low-key.”

“Yeah?”

“Picture the lowest key on a piano. Even lower than that,” Penelope jokes and Josie smiles, despite her nerves.

“That’s very low-key.”

“The lowest.”

“Well, in that case, I will take a kiss if it’s still up for grabs,” Josie says, turning her head on the wall to look at the shorter girl. And Penelope delights in the corniness of the whole situation. It is so unlike herself but Josie inspires it in her and for some reason Penelope loves that.

“Great, that’s what I was hoping you’d say,” Penelope mumbles and she leans up to press her lips to Josie’s.

Just like everything with the girl, kissing Josie is easier than breathing. The press of pouty lips against her own feels simultaneously like being electrocuted and like strolling into her own home. So Penelope deepens the kiss and lets the night crawl by, uncomplicated and easy as pie.

When Josie makes a content little noise as Penelope’s hand tangles into the hair at the nape of her neck, the shorter girl makes a mental note that it would probably be a good idea to add this to the ritual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading! I know this is kind of slow moving for a short fic but yolo, am I right? Feel free to yell at me in the comments! Heart you, drink some water, bye!


	3. Senior Week

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And that’s the third time someone has called Penelope her girl tonight. The third time she’s known without asking exactly who they’re talking about, third time a warm and familiar feeling has wormed its way into her stomach.
> 
> Or 
> 
> College AU part 3.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a hot ass minute but here it is. Just a reminder that this is very close to how my parents got together. Wild huh? Anyways, back to these drunk idiots. Sorry for any typos!

It’s one night but they don’t end up dating. 

Josie thinks it’s a shame because that night with Penelope was one of the best of her young, gay life. She can’t remember ever feeling so excited about her future as she felt when she thought her and Penelope could be something.

And it wasn’t that dramatic really. Just shortly after their night after the Tam, Josie got accepted to study abroad in Australia. And since the semester was ending her and Penelope decided staying friends would be easier than long distance.

When Josie returned for the Spring Semester, Penelope had graduated early and was moving to New York to do an internship with a literary agency. They only truly got to hang out for a few days before it was time for Penelope to say goodbye. And because Penelope was popular, that meant that her and Josie did not get to spend any of that time alone together.

Josie considered the green-eyed girl her one that got away. They never dated but they could have been something… important.

She did a good job pushing it from her brain the past semester. It wasn’t like she was incapable of living without Penelope. She went on dates with other people, saw a few guys and girls, lived her life like normal.

She just thought about Penelope every day. 

Which is why she was excited for tonight. Tonight was MG’s senior week bash. Penelope had mentioned to Josie that she was going to be in town to walk with their class at graduation. Josie knows from instagram that Penelope is in town and staying at MG’s. Which only means one thing.

Josie bursts into her sister’s room, “I need to try to look hot tonight.”

Lizzie lazily looks up from the book she was reading, “Jo. Babe. Saltzman’s don’t try. They just do.”

So Josie heads to the party feeling like she’s at least a little in control of how the night’s going to go. She finds there’s nothing more reassuring than facing a night full of possibility while slightly drunk from a pregame and looking smoking.

She steps into the party and is immediately met with a mass of bodies. Being the most universally liked kid in school really made MG’s party’s epic and the fact that Kaleb was the cohost paired with the fact that it was senior week, made this specific party even more huge. 

Josie loses her twin immediately so decides her best bet is to get a drink in her hand. It will make dealing with the crowd much more bearable.

She finds her way into the kitchen and is met with Jed and Kaleb and a crowd of people she sort of knows. She hugs the boys, then Jed turns to mix her a drink. “A drink for Jo! Our favorite little sugarplum,” he exclaims. Josie is glad to see they’ve been hitting the bottle hard. It will make for an interesting night.

“Thank you, King,” Josie smiles, leaning into the counter next to Kaleb who snorts. Josie warily eyes how much vodka Jed pours. It’s a lot. He mixes with some sort of fruit punch, then immediately begins pouring shots.

“Have you seen Peevs yet?” Josie’s bro scrunches before she clocks Kaleb’s shit-eating grin. Using context clues, she assumes Peevs is Penelope. Something nags in the back of her brain at that nickname but she can’t place what. She rolls her eyes.

“Not yet, is she around?” She hopes no desperation leaks into her voice.

Kaleb waves his hand vaguely before accepting a shot from Jed. “Somewhere,” he says, “but you have the whole night to see her, stay and drink with us.”

Jed hands Josie a shot and she’s never been one to turn down free liquor. The trio cheers and downs the shots. It’s terrible which makes Josie nostalgic. Jed immediately starts pouring another round.

“Are you nervous to be seeing your girl?” Kaleb asks, in his classic blunt manner. 

Josie should probably lie. “Yes,” she admits, “but she’s not my girl.”

Kaleb grins at that and accepts Jed’s next outstretched shot. Josie accepts hers as well. Jed hires his glass in a sort of toast, “Keep telling yourself that,” he says, before downing his shot. Josie can’t help but smile before taking hers. “She was yours from the beginning. Everybody knew it.”

And Josie tries not to let the warmth that spreads from that show in her face. “You don’t know shit, Jed,” she says instead and the tall boy grins goofily. 

He taps his temple with his pointer finger. “I know a thing or two about love.” Josie rolls her eyes as Kaleb and Jed continuing teasing her.

Against her better judgement, she stays with the two idiots for about 45 minutes, getting drunker by the second. Josie almost forgets that she should be nosily hunting for a glimpse of Penelope.

It’s Lizzie who finds the trio in the kitchen, drunker than skunks. “Josette, I did not lend you my party shirt for you to be sitting in here drinking the night away with Pinky and The Brain.”

“I’m The Brain!” Jed claims childishly.

Kaleb scoffs. “You know damn well that’s not at all what she meant.”

“And it looks like you three are drunker than appropriate,” Lizzie observes. Josie tries to shake her head no but it just causes her to spill her drink so she doubts it's very convincing. “Well, my idiot sister, your girl has been looking for you. I played her in pong and she did a scan of the room between every throw. A bit sad if you ask me.”

And once again Josie’s scalp tingles at having Penelope called her girl. It’s all very familiar. And the fact that she was looking for her puts air in her lungs. She should probably tone it down though. 

Instead of demanding where Penelope is, Josie just smiles, a big goofy smile. “Which one? I have hundreds of bitches,” she deadpans.

Jed and Kaleb laugh while Lizzie tries to hold back a smirk of her own. She grabs Josie’s elbow, pulling her from the counter and causing her drink to spill once more. Josie giggles as Lizzie pushes her from the room. “Leave, and don’t return without a specific cold hearted bitch in tow.”

Josie goofily salutes her twin, then turns into the throng of the party.

All around her are people she vaguely knows. Some play drinking games, others dance to some expertly curated music, most just stand around and talk to the people they soon won’t see for the rest of their lives. Josie thinks some of them are desperately trying to force connections before it’s too late.

She gets it.

Isn’t that, after all, exactly what she’s doing now? Trying desperately to find Penelope so she can solidify something before the chance to run into her constantly is taken away?

Josie walks through the party with exclusively this on her mind, searching for green eyes and black glossy hair, and a smile that looks a bit like a baby turtle’s. 

It’s a laugh that makes her stop. She would recognize Penelope’s laugh anywhere, even after a whole semester of not seeing her. She turns, and thinks she catches a glimpse of her before a figure is stepping into her line of sight.

Connor.

Josie regrets ever making out with him at a party last year. In her defense, she was drunk. And while he was normally a dick, he was being nice to her and he was kind of cute if you were drunk which she was and okay, she knows it wasn’t great, she’s super, super not proud of it. But that’s just how college goes, huh?

“Saltzman, looking dangerously hot,” he says looking her over. She rolls her eyes.

“Connor, now is a very bad time.” And Josie expects Connor to push back, due to his frat bro personality. 

He surprises her, “No worries. I just wanted to say, if I don’t see you before graduation, good luck out there.”

Josie blinks in surprise. She knows she’s going to have a hangover tomorrow but it’s probably going to be worse than ever before if Connor is being kind to her with no additional motive in sight. “Thanks, you too,” she says, trying not to let her shock show.

Connor smiles, “Thanks. If you’re looking for your girl, she was going to go smoke with a group in Landon’s room,” Connor says. And that’s the third time someone has called Penelope her girl tonight. The third time she’s known without asking exactly who they’re talking about, third time a warm and familiar feeling has wormed its way into her stomach.

Josie doesn’t even try to brush it off this time. “Thanks, Connor.” He nods and opens his arms for one last goodbye hug, and because it’s Senior Week, Josie steps into it. She smiles one last time, before turning and walking away from Connor. Possibly forever. Gosh, graduating is weird.

Josie makes her way to the room she knows is Landon. She knocks lightly on the door before stepping in. Inside, the room is slightly hazy. Hope, Landon, Nia, Ryan, and Penelope all sit criss-cross on the floor, passing a joint around.

Josie’s chest flutters seeing Penelope again. Her breath tickles the top of her throat, ready to get caught but not quite catching. She figures when Penelope looks at her it will. “Hey, mind if I join?” she quietly asks.

Except when green eyes lift to her, there’s an anger behind them. And Josie doesn’t quite know what she’s done but she can tell that Penelope is downright pissed.

 

 

Penelope looked hot. She knew she did, she always did, but tonight in particular she looked great. She had on a new pair of mom jeans and a lacy tank and it was all very simple but Penelope Park made simple spectacular.

And she would never admit it, but she had put all this effort in for one reason and one reason only, Josie Saltzman. Because Penelope hadn’t seen the tall girl in three months but she had thought about her and stalked her instagram religiously.

She had spent a good amount of the party searching out brown eyes before being tapped on the shoulder.

She turned around and was met by blue. Hope Mikaelson. Penelope didn’t try to keep the smirk from her face.

“Park, looks like New York was too big and bad for you,” Hope greets, a grin on her face. And oh, how Penelope missed their bitchy banter. Penelope steps in for a quick hug.

“Please, God knows we’ll only be roommates for a week before you come running back to Boston where everything closes at 5, just before your bedtime.” Penelope teases. She was so excited to be living with Hope again. They had only not lived with each other for half a year and it had felt like too much for Penelope.

Hope Mikaelson was an important presence in her life. The only reason she wasn’t sleeping at her apartment this week is because she knew Hope would like some alone time with Landon before she spent the summer away from him, traveling with her aunt in Italy.

Hope rolls her eyes, “I’m tough.”

“Sure, Mikaelson.” Penelope smiles before turning her head to casually look around the room once more.

“Can’t find your girlfriend?” Hope asks. Or at least she thought she was being casual.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Penelope says immediately. Hope looks unconvinced.

“But she once was mine, and judging by your facial expression that’s not a fact you love to remember,” Hope teases and Penelope can’t even say she’s wrong.

She’s always been a jealous bitch.

Penelope fake pouts, “Did you come over here just to be rude to me?” She asks and Hope laughs.

“Now who needs to toughen up? No, you baby, I came over here to employ you as my pong partner. We have one more chance to stake a claim as the best duo of all time.”

So Penelope finds herself playing pong with her best friend. Except they aren’t using beer, they’re using half and half shots, and Penelope is getting steadily better at beer pong as the night wears on.

They play MG and Nia, Connor and Ryan, and Lizzie and Landon (Lizzie yells at Landon for every shot he misses), before Dana and Sasha walk up to the table. 

Penelope wants to quit immediately but Hope keeps her there with a look. Maybe Dana will be better.

“Penny, so good to see you, I’ve been thinking of you all semester,” Dana says. No dice.

Penelope plasters on her nicest smile. “Dana, Sasha, ready to lose?”

“Let’s talk our reward when we win.” Dana states. Sasha looks a bit embarrassed.

Penelope worries that this game will feel like a century long, opens her mouth to set the record straight. Hope steps in before Penelope can, “Let’s just play the game.”

Penelope and Hope win and Penelope decides that their reward is taking a break. Hope mentions that Landon has some weed for them and goes off to find him to smoke.

Penelope goes to walk to the kitchen for a glass of water when she feels a hand on her arm.

“Penny, wait.” Penelope gently pulls her arm from Dana’s arm, ready to cut this conversation short. “I wanted to catch up. Did you miss me in New York?” And Penelope can only take so much chasing before it’s just inappropriate.

“Look, Dana, I don’t know how much clearer I can be. You’re very pretty but I just am not interested.” A fire lights in Dana’s eyes and Penelope wishes she was a bit less bat shit crazy.

“I never could seem to piece together why you so willingly gave your heart to Saltzman.” And Penelope doesn’t love how easily the whole world seems to know that’s a fact. “What do you think will happen Penelope? You could have so much more than her.”

Penelope thinks about it. Knows she doesn’t owe Dana an honest answer but wants to give her one anyway. “There is no one that I can think of who is better than Josie Saltzman. Especially, but not limited to, myself,” she says quietly and stern.

Dana looks momentarily stunned by the blunt honesty. Then her jaw sets, and Penelope instinctively knows she won’t like whatever happens next. “If she’s so perfect then tell me, why did she hook up with Connor the second you left for New York?” Dana asks. Penelope’s tipsy brain spins a bit. “And look, it seems like they’re still involved.”

Dana points over her shoulder and Penelope turns, getting her first glimpse of Josie since being back in Boston. Against her will, her heart swells, before she notices that Josie is smiling softly at someone and that someone is in fact Connor. As she watches, Josie and Connor hug and Penelope realizes that maybe Dana isn’t lying. Because Josie would never hug Connor unless she knew him a little better than she did when Penelope left.

“Little miss sunshine seems to have a bit of a cruel streak,” Dana tacks on, to drive the point home.

Penelope closes her eyes then turns her body away from Connor and Josie. “This doesn’t change the fact that I am not interested in sleeping with you and I don’t think I ever will be.” Penelope says. “I wish you the best Dana,” with that she turns on her heel and walks into Landon’s room, closing the door on Dana, hopefully for good.

A small group has gathered to split the blunt. Penelope sits on the floor between Landon and Hope. “Are you okay?” Hope asks. Was she okay?

“Did Josie hooks up with Connor?” And the look on Hope’s face says it all. Penelope nods and plucks the joint from her friends hand, taking a deep pull and trying desperately to not be as dramatic as she wishes she could be.

She has no right to be but she can’t help feeling a bit pissed at Josie. The other girl owes nothing to her but Penelope wanted so desperately to belong to Josie only to find out that she was out and about having a good time here without her. With fucking Connor.

She hates herself for how not-feminist these thoughts were. Josie was a free woman and could hook up with whatever stupid fucking pricks she wanted to. It was not up to Penelope.

She just couldn’t stop the embarrassment that came with getting her hopes up like a dumbass. And being embarrassed made her angry, so here she was, angrily smoking a joint.

A knock on the door grabs everyone else’s attention. Penelope tries to keep her eyes down in case it’s Dana, back again for round five billion.

Instead, a soft, “Hey, mind if I join?” Makes her eyes dart to the door. Josie looks so goddamn pretty. She’s in a sparkly gray crop top tank and red pants and red is definitely her color and Penelope is high so she can’t stop her thoughts but truly she is mad at the entire situation.

How dare Josie be so hot and also have such a strong hold on her? Not at all fair. So she glares at Josie. And the hurt in Josie’s eyes when she notices does nothing at all to help the situation.

Luckily, Hope speaks up, “Of course Jo!” So Josie takes a seat between Nia and Hope. Penelope tries not to make eye contact.

They all pass the blunt for a while, chatting quietly about random things. Mainly the new Addams Family trailer and whether or not they think it will be good.

Penelope can feel Josie trying to catch her eye.

They smoke through a few blunts before Penelope stands up, her legs slightly wobblier than before. She gives everyone a salute, saying, “Bathroom,” as she leaves. She really just needs to get out of the same room as Josie.

She makes it about halfway across the next room before a hand wraps its way around her wrist. She tells herself that the tingling it causes is strictly a side affect of the pot.

“Pen, wait,” and there’s that nickname, and that voice, and everything about this kid made her heart do backflips. So she turns back around because what more can she do?

“Hey,” she says softly. Josie’s eyebrows knit in confusion.

“Hey?” She asks. “That’s it, just hey? Are you mad at me or something?”

And how do you tell your friend who you’ve always wanted to be more that you’re mad at them for hooking up with someone they were 100 percent in the right for hooking up with? By saying it out-loud evidentally.

“No. I mean yes. I mean, are you sleeping with Connor?” Penelope just lets it fall from her mouth without much thought. Substances loosen the lips or whatever.

Josie looks dumbstruck for a minute and Penelope thinks maybe they’re both too inebriated to be having this conversation.

The taller girl opens her mouth to speak but before she can get too far, Lizzie steps up to them,

“Hey. Jed is dumb drunk and so are you two probably knowing you, so we’re all going to Denny’s. Grab Mikaelson and her floppy haired gremlin,” the blonde girl demands. She doesn’t wait for an answer, stomping off to gather more of their friends.

Penelope turns back to Josie, hoping she’ll answer her question but instead she looks confused. So she sighs and goes back to pull Landon and Hope to Denny’s.

Because sure, she’s jealous, but fuck could she mess up some pancakes.

 

 

Josie is a bit confused sitting in the booth at Denny’s. But truly, what else is new? When it comes to Penelope Park she feels like the only thing she’s ever been sure of is how easy it is with Penelope. How natural it feels to be with her. Everything else is a downright mystery.

Like how Penelope found out she made out with Connor. And why she’s this angry about it. And why even though she hasn’t seen her for a while, being in the same room as Penelope made her heart feel complete, even thought the other girl was pissed at her.

But she couldn’t be pissed at her, that wasn’t fair. And yet if Penelope had made out with Connor, Josie knew she wouldn’t like that. She got it.

It’s just hard to explain to Penelope that the only reason she made out with Connor was because she was such a hot mess that her best friend and possible love of her life wasn’t in Boston when she got back. 

How could she tell Penelope that she spent the whole year thinking about her without seeming like a downright fool? She couldn’t. At least not in her cross faded state.

She pours all of this out to MG while they wait for their Grand Slamwiches. He tries his hardest to follow along. Josie steals near constant glances at Penelope who is up ordering at the counter with Hope.

“Ugh I just… I really like her MG…” She whines drunkenly. MG just smiles his billion watt smile. He opens his mouth to speak but only laughs. It’s Jed’s drunk ass who leans over.

“Yeah, we been knew, okay? We all said you guys would be great together.” Josie pouts at that.

“You have all been talking about me behind my back? That… s’not nice.” She slurs, her sadness amplified by her incredibly high BAC.

“Not behind your back. We said it in front of your face,” MG defends.

“When?”

“Extra Cosmic Jungle Party,” MG states.

“Yeah that party where Kaleb threw up in the bushes afterwards, remember?” Jed snorts and then burps. Josie scrunches her nose.

“Keep my name out your mouth.” Kaleb chooses this moment to plop into the booth next to Jed. “What are y’all talking about?” He asks.

“That time when we all thought Peevs and Jo were dating,” MG giggles like this is the funniest thing he’s ever said. Kaleb and Jed join in.

“Oh man that was really funny that night,” Kaleb laughs.

Suddenly, their teasing voices seem to fade out. It’s just Josie and her drunk brain, locked into what feels strongly like a That’s So Raven vision dream sequence. She can only assume that’s how she looks to a person not on this mental journey she is taking at 3:00 am in a Denny’s.

Penelope is Peevs. Penelope Park. Peevs Park. Josie remembers that party now. She remembers the teasing and the multiple people who genuinely thought her and the black-haired girl standing at the counter were dating. 

She remembers a warmness in her heart being called ‘Park’s Girl,’ even before she knew at all the effect Penelope would have over every single aspect of her life.

She remembers green eyes and almost heading back into a subpar party.

All of these memories come swimming to the forefront of Josie’s mind, slowed by the alcohol and hard to comprehend. Her face must be reflecting this spiritual journey because she’s suddenly pulled out of it by a hand on her shoulder.

She looks up into Lizzie’s concerned blue eyes and relaxes a fraction of an inch. Lizzie makes most things make sense.

“Hey Drunky, you good?” Her twin asks, and Josie doesn’t know how to answer.

“I don’t know.”

“Well fear not my little String Bean, the pancakes will soak up most of the alcohol. And if you feel the urge to purge before they get here, the bathroom is right over there,” Lizzie explains, in her dramatically matter-of-fact Lizzie way. If Josie weren’t freaking out she would have found it hilarious.

“Lizzie. Penelope is Park.”

Lizzie stares at her like she lost every single last one of her marbles. Maybe she finally has.

“Josette, what the fuck are you talking about?” Lizzie demands.

Josie cannot even begin to try to explain. Luckily, and ever the hero, MG chimes in.

“The party! When we made out. That was fun, let’s do that again actually sometime, if you want.” MG seems to lose his train of thought. Lizzie gives him a pointed glare until he catches on and continues, “Everyone thought Josie was Peev’s new girlfriend.”

Understanding washes over Lizzie’s face and Josie could cry, she’s so relieved. Lizzie snorts.

“Everyone and their brother knew you guys would have the hots for each other before you did.”

Almost as if it was destined. As if the cosmos knew that Penelope and Josie belonged together and just clued everyone else in before them.

And Josie has a sudden and profound moment of clarity. She has never been more sure of what she has to do next than she is in that exact moment. Around her, her sister and their friends continue to tease her for being so clueless but she barely processes it.

When Josie stands up with a vigorous purpose, Lizzie, worriedly, places a hand on her arm. “Jo, where are you going?” She asks, “To do something stupid?”

Josie shakes her head. “I think this is the smartest thing I’ll ever do.” And Lizzie must read something in her eyes.

“Josie, no…”

“Josie yes,” And the brunette twin turns and almost bowls someone over.

Like fate.

All of a sudden, Penelope is standing in front of her with Hope at her side, their eyes darting between Lizzie’s concerned face, MG, Landon, and Kaleb’s amused states and Josie with her literal heart shining through her eyes.

Josie can’t help but notice how beautiful Penelope looks right now, her short hair half pulled up onto the top of her head so some strands escape to cover the back of her neck. Her eyeliner is smudged the tiniest bit, her brows pulled together, hating how she feels like she’s missing something.

Josie can’t remember seeing a prettier person in her entire life.

“Josie yes, what?” Penelope asks, almost annoyed by feeling left out, “What’s going on.”

“You’re Park. It’s you.”

This only seems to confuse Penelope more. “That is my name, yes,” she confirms. And for some reason that chases the last little fleck of doubt from Josie’s heart.

Josie Saltzman was not a sure person, but this is the surest she had ever and will ever feel. So she doesn’t question it, can’t imagine questioning something that’s calling to her heart so loudly.

Instead of panicking like normal, she just goes with the flow and gets down on one knee.

“Penelope Peevs Park, will you marry me?”

If Josie were looking around, she would see that her twin’s jaw was on the ground. She would see that Hope’s eyebrows were up past her hairline. She would see that Jed, MG, and Kaleb had all stood up from their chairs, clutching each other like they were watching the final 15 seconds of a tied NBA playoffs.

But she wasn’t looking around. She was looking at Penelope, so instead she was treated to a myriad of emotions painted on Penelope’s face. First the confusion, then the words seemed to sink in and the shock took over, then a brief flash of fear before working through what read as denial, an internal self assurance that she must have heard wrong.

Josie loves her. Like truly loves her. She thinks she has forever. It feels like the love lives in her bones or something, making every part of her buzz.

Oh god she was very drunk wasn’t she? The thought makes her laugh to herself.

She sobers herself, tuning back into Penelope Park, the girl she loved. God she looked so pretty. And now she was opening her perfect mouth. Josie sucked in a breath, ready to see what would happen next.

“I’m sorry what?”

 

 

Penelope didn’t remember doing crack that night. But she thinks she just witnessed Josie getting down on one knee and proposing to her so somewhere along the way she must have done crack right?

Because what was happening?

“I said I want you to marry me,” Josie says, and there it is again. And Josie’s eyes are so big and beautiful and swimming with hope that this must all be a fever dream.

But Jed wouldn’t be in her dreams. And they wouldn’t be in a Denny’s so this must be real, right? But also, what the fuck? How was this real?

IT MUST BE A JOKE. That made sense, Josie was joking, and Penelope was ruining it by being too drunk and making things weird. She let’s out a quick laugh to cover up her failings. “Good one, sure, let’s get married.”

And she expects a laugh from Josie and the rest of their friends but is instead met with a confused puppy-dog face.

“I’m not joking, I’m dead serious.” And that makes no sense.

“Why?” She needs to know why. And also what. What is happening.

“Because I think we should get married,” Josie says like it’s the most logical thing of all time. Like proposing to someone drunk at 3:00 am in a Denny’s before you’ve even graduated college is a classic situation.

Penelope’s a bit pissed to be honest. She was already mad at Josie and now this was happening. She was supposed to be the train wreck of the two of them. “You can’t propose to me.”

“Why not?” And she had her there. Penelope didn’t really know what to say to that.

“Because… you don’t have a ring.” Logic.

Josie looks around finding a discarded straw wrapper on the ground. She picks it up and wraps it into a small circle, holding it out to Penelope like a sacrifice.

“We’re too young.”

“Plenty of people have gotten married before 22. And we could have a long engagement,”

Penelope looks around. Willing anyone else to step in. She can’t tell how much time has passed since Josie asked the question but her brain sure is tired trying to keep up on its own. No one seems to be ready to defend her case. All of their friends were watching with intense interest.

That’s when Penelope realizes, her most logical argument, “We aren’t even dating,” she says triumphantly.

Josie huffs in annoyance. Penelope thinks now’s not the time to think Josie looks adorable pissed off but she can’t really stop her brain.

Josie stands up and steps towards her. She reaches out and grabs her hand, half in reassurance, half to steady her drunken wobble. She looks so pretty and Penelope isn’t sure whether she herself is scared or madly in love.

It’s probably both if she’s being real.

“I think I loved you when you said Josie the Scientist sounded like a feminist children’s book,” Josie states, and Penelope’s heart gets lodged in her throat. The taller girl continues, “That day on the boat, I should have been crushed. Instead, when I went home that night all I could think about was watching the movie Holes. No offense Hope.” She turns worried eyes onto her ex-fling.

“None taken, and once again sorry,” The red head supplies. She does a hand motion as if to say, ‘Carry on.’ Josie grins at her before turning back to Penelope.

“I wanted to kill Dana every single time we were at the Tam. I actually flipped her the bird behind your back once,” Josie states, a bit guilty. Behind her Lizzie lets out a quiet cheer. Josie pushes on, “And you were jealous of Connor because you thought we had slept together.”

“So you didn’t sleep with Connor.”

“Ew, no.” Penelope can’t help but smile at that and Josie points at the smile, eyebrows raising high, delighted that Penelope is proving her point.

“See!” Penelope lets the smile fall from her face so Josie continues on. “We were each other’s before we even knew each other. Everyone else thought so too. I had about twelve people ask me if I was your girlfriend at a party I was at even before we met.”

And suddenly Penelope remembers a murky night a few years ago. Bringing an old fling, Tyler, to a party and having several people ask her where her twin was. It all finally clicks. Penelope feels an overwhelming sense of relief, as if she had been trying to remember something for three years and she finally got it.

“If that’s not fate, I don’t know what it is.”

And Josie is making a lot of solid points here. Logically this shouldn’t make any sense. Penelope is a planner, she has a vision for how her life is going to go. This was not part of the vision.

But, potentially because of the substance abuse, she feels like she wants it to be.

“I don’t know Jojo,” she says and at this point Josie is annoyed. She starts to get whiney, not happy with how resistant to her life-changing realization Penelope is.

“Why not?” She demands for a final time.

“Because what if Puddles gets jealous. I mean, sure, we were low-key. But I don’t know if we were this low-key.”

Josie looks dumbfounded for a long moment, then she smiles.

“Penelope, will you marry me?”

“The knee, Jo,” she reminds. Josie quickly gets on one knee again.

“Penelope, will you marry me?”

“The ring.” Josie pulls out her folded up straw wrapper, holding it up to Penelope.

“Penelope Park, will you pretty please marry me?” And the sincerity in Josie’s eyes does something crazy to Penelope’s heart.

“Okay, fine.” The smile that takes over Josie’s face is blinding and Penelope thinks she wouldn’t mind seeing it for forever.

Just as a parade of pancakes are being delivered to their table, Josie stands up and wraps her arms around Penelope’s neck. Penelope doesn’t waste time in connecting their lips. And it’s only been a year since they did this, but she can’t seem to fathom how she survived without it.

Their friends cheer around them as they make out in the Denny’s and Penelope can’t remember ever feeling this content.

The group surrounds them passing around hugs. Hope and Lizzie both wrap their arms around the hugging pair.

“You know you guys aren’t actually engaged, right?” Hope asks, a giant grin on her face.

“Yeah, this is insane, you guys are just drunk,” Lizzie supplies, and Josie’s smile is nothing but gigantic and dopey.

“Nope, not true,” Josie says happily. And God is she pretty.

And sure, maybe they are drunk, and maybe they’ll decide in the morning to have a redo. But Penelope doubts it. Doubts she will ever feel anything but delighted when remembering the unorthodox way in which they ended up together.

Because she didn’t care if it made conventional sense, this was her and Josie. Nothing about her relationship with the brown-eyed girl ever obeyed the laws of the universe.

Which is why, a year or so later, Penelope Park goes on her very first date with her wife. Simple as breathing, easy as pie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so so much for reading this! All of your comments warm my dead heart. This story was very fun to write because it was a story I've loved since I was a little baby. I hope the ending is okay! Let me know what you think and thanks again! Heart you, drink some water, bye!!!

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically how my parents got together and not to be weird but I always thought it was a romantic and trashy story. And that's my brand, romantic and trashy. So here we are. Hope this doesn't suck! Hope you all enjoy. Heart you, bye!


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